!jna ohrup HAPPY PURIM!

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THE STORY OF PURIM

THE ROYAL FEAST More than two thousand years ago (368 BCE), King Achashverosh ascended to the throne of Persia. He was not the rightful heir to the Persian throne, but he succeeded in impressing the populace with his riches and power, establishing his govern ment throughout all Persian territories. King Achashverosh ruled over a vast kingdom of 127 countries, extending from India to Ethopia and was constantly seeking to become popular with his subjects. One of the ways he did this was to have a royal feast which lasted one hundred and eighty days. At the end of this grand feast, he made a special seven-day feast for all the inhabi-tants of the capital city of Shushan.

Mordechai, the great Jewish leader at that time begged the Jews to avoid the palace and the King’s scheme of luring Jews into eating non-kosher food and drink.

The majority of Jews listened to Mordechai, but many did not heed his words of caution. They attended the feast, eating and drinking. Even on Shabbat the wild revels at the palace continued. The king, whose tongue was loosened by wine, boasted of the beauty of his queen, Vashti. He sent for her immediately to appear before his guests. Vashti refused to be summoned like a common slave. The king became enraged at her insolence and called upon the wise men of the kingdom to pass sentence upon her. All were afraid to answer except for the wicked Haman who advised that she be executed, which she was, on that very Shabbat.

ESTHER Now the king needed a new queen. All the beau-tiful daughters of the country were brought to the palace so that the King might choose one whom he desired for a wife. Mordechai dreaded the moment when the King’s men might come knock-ing on his door in search of a possible queen, for he was responsible for the beautiful and charming Esther. In the end, Esther was chosen as queen. When she found out her destiny, she surrounded herself with faithful Jewish servants who provided her with kosher food and did not betray the fact that she was a Jew, for Mordechai had told her to

keep her identity a secret until it was necessary for her to reveal it.

Thus Esther became the new queen, not revealing that she was Jewish. Mordechai comforted and gave strength to Esther telling her that perhaps she had been chosen by G-d to help the Jewish nation in a time of need.

MORDECHAI After Esther was chosen queen of Persia, she asked the king why he had not chosen a Jewish advisor, as other kings had. He replied that he did not know one. She suggested Mordechai, who was wise, pious and loyal. The king agreed.

One day in the court, Mordechai overheard two attendants planning to poison the king. He told Esther of the plot and she in turn informed the king of it in Mordechai’s name. The attendants attempted their plan, it failed and Mordechai was credited with saving the king’s life.

HAMAN Haman, a descendant of the tribe of Amalek, the sworn enemy of the Jewish people since the beginning of our people, rose to power in King Achashverosh’s court, becoming Prime Minister. The king issued an order commanding everyone in the palace to bow down in deference to Haman who wore an image of the idol which he wor-shiped on his chest. Mordechai refused to bow down before Haman, despite many warnings he had received from various officials. When Haman himself reprimanded him for not doing what the king ordered, Mordechai answered: I am a Jew, and would never bow down to any human being wearing the image of a pagan idol on his chest.

Haman despised Mordechai and his people. He worked out a scheme by which he hoped to annihilate all the Jews in the Kingdom of Achashverosh, especially his most hated enemy, Mordechai. Although the king was reluctant to carry out the scheme, Haman persuaded him. Two royal decrees were issued. The first was an open order to all governors to arm the population for the thirteenth of Adar, when they should rise and massacre ‘a certain group of harmful people’. The

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identity of those who were to be killed was in the second, sealed decree. The second decree was that the people of Persia should attack and kill all the Jews, young and old, women and children.

Mordechai who was standing outside the gates of the royal palace, noticed an expression of glee on Haman’s wicked face and knew that he had something up his sleeve. Haman then saw Mordechai speaking to a group of Jewish children and demanded to know what they had told him. “They told me what they learned that day, to have no fear of your evil designs” Mordechai answered triumphantly. Haman flew into a rage and told Mordechai that “I will get even with the Jewish children first!”

THE FAST OF ESTHER That same night the Prophet Eliyahu appeared to Mordechai in a dream and revealed Haman’s wicked plan. When Mordechai awoke he rent his clothes, donned a sackcloth and wept bitterly. His anguish aroused all the Jews of Shushan and they understood that they were doomed to perish on the 13th of Adar.

Mordechai went to Esther, told her of Haman’s plan and pleaded with her to speak to the King on behalf of all the Jewish people. Esther realized the grave danger facing the Jewish people and agreed to speak to the King, risking her life in the process. However she made one request of Mordechai – that she and all the Jews undertake a three-day-fast in prayer and repentance. After three days of fasting, Esther entered King Achashverosh's chamber. The king extended his scepter to her and Esther invited the king and Haman to a private banquet that she had prepared for them.

VICTORY Sleep eluded the king that night, so he asked his servants to read for him from the Royal Chronicles. They read the story of how Mordechai had saved the king's life, without receiving any reward.

At that moment Haman arrived. The king asked him, "What should be done to the man whom the king wishes to honour?" Haman assumed that

the king wished to honour him, but the king told Haman to honour Mordechai. Haman but had no choice but to comply.

Later that day, at the festive banquet, the king asked Esther, his queen, if there was any special request she wished to make.

She asked the king to spare her life and the lives of her people. He asked Esther who would do such a thing and she replied that it was none other than the wicked Haman, pointing an accusing finger at him. Haman realized what was happening and began to beg the queen for mercy. A few moments later one of the king’s attendants told the king that Haman had erected a gallows fifty cubits high for the loyal Mordechai. This infuriated the king, as he remembered that Mordechai had saved his life and he ordered Haman hung on those very gallows.

Though Haman was now dead, his cruel decree remained unchanged, and unless it was withdrawn the Jews would be lost. Esther again pleaded with the king to avert the terrible fate that threatened her people. Although very difficult, a new decree was finally issued. The new documents were immediately dispatched by royal couriers to the 127 provinces of the Persian empire. By these royal decrees, permission was granted to the Jews to gather on the thirteenth of Adar and defend themselves against their enemies and to attack and slay all those who would assault them.

On the thirteenth of Adar, by order of the king, all those who had revealed themselves as part of Haman’s evil plot were executed, including the ten sons of Haman. When the king brought the news to Esther she still had one more request. There were still many dangerous enemies at large, and they must be executed or there would never be peace in the land. Esther’s request was immediately granted.

From that time, the fourteenth day of Adar was consecrated as the festival of Purim, to commem-orate the great miracle of our people’s salvation and the downfall of the wicked Haman.

At the same time the Jews obligated themselves to observe, every year, the Fast of Esther, on the thirteenth day of Adar, the day before Purim, to commemorate the fasts and prayers of the Jews in those days.

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THE MITZVOT OF PURIM

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THE FAST OF ESTHER To commemorate the day of prayer and fasting which the Jews held before their victory, we fast on the day before Purim. This year, we fast on Monday, March 9. (The fast begins at 6:01 am and ends at 7:23 pm.)

HALF A SHEKEL – MACHATZIT HASHEKEL It is a tradition to give 3 half-dollar coins to charity to commemorate the half-shekel given by each Jew in the time of the Holy Temple. This is usually performed in the synagogue and should be done on Monday, March 9 before Mincha.

LISTEN TO THE MEGILLAH The scroll of Esther, Megillat Esther, recounts the story of Haman’s plot to destroy the Jewish people and how the plot was miraculously foiled. We listen to the reading of the megillah twice during the holiday. The first time is on the evening of Monday, March 9 and again, on the following day, Tuesday, March 10. When Haman’s name is mentioned, we twirl ‘graggers’ and stamp our feet to ‘drown out’ his evil name.

SEND GIFTS OF FOOD Purim is emphasized by the importance of Jewish unity and friendship. Gifts of food containing at least two kinds of ready-to-eat food (e.g. pastry, fruit and beverage) are sent to at least one friend on Tuesday, March 10. If possible these gifts, called mishloach manot (sending gifts) should be sent by a third party. It is customary to observe this mitzvah on the day of Purim rather than the night before.

GIFTS FOR THE POOR Giving charity, while a year-round responsibility, is a particularly special mitzvah on Purim. Give charity to at least two, but preferably more, needy individuals on Tuesday, March 10 during the daytime. The mitzvah is best fulfilled by giving directly to the person. If this is not possible, place at least several coins into pushkas (charity boxes). Young children should also fulfill this mitzvah.

THE PURIM MEAL Purim is celebrated with a special festive and joyous meal on Tuesday, March 10 during the daytime. Soup with ‘kreplach’ (dumplings) and hamantaschen are two of the customary foods eaten on Purim. Both foods have a hidden filling. This reminds us that G-d’s involvement in the Purim episode, although ever present, was hidden and not openly revealed.

SPECIAL PRAYERS On Purim the ‘Al HaNissim’ liturgy is recited in the Amidah (Silent Prayer) for evening, morning and afternoon, as well as in the Grace After Meals. In the morning service there is a special reading from the Torah Scroll in the synagogue.

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See the Patterns In the seemingly random events of our lives lie profound, deep

patterns. Connect the dots to see the bigger picture emerge.

Don’t Conform From Mordechai, the non-conformist, learn not to bow

down to the man-made idols of our times. (Esther 3:2)

Recognize Your Mission From Esther, the heroine, realize that your position in life provides you with an opportunity to bring redemption to the world. (Esther 4:14)

Wake Up – The Miracle Begins Here! Achashveirosh’s insomnia reminds us to wake up from our spiritual slumber. (Esther 6:1)

Transform the Darkness Haman’s hatred forces us to define who we truly are, and elicits our ability to transform the darkest moments into the highest joy. (Esther 3:8 & 9:1, 9:22)

Unmask G-d The absence of G-d’s name from the Purim story, challenges us to recognize that the natural events of the material world are a mask that hides a deeper truth – G-d’s hand inside the glove. (Esther

1:1 –10:3)

Transcend Your Logic Don’t try to figure it all out. Sometimes you make great

plans, and G-d has greater, unexpected plans!

SEVEN STEPS T O A S P I R I T U A L L Y I N T O X I C A T I N G P U R I M

by MEANINGFULLIFE.COM

Be your true self this Purim and experience intoxicated joy!

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PURIM IS NOT NORMAL

Purim is nuts. A rational person cannot cele -brate Purim, nor can those who believe they know who they are. Because the joy of Purim

means leaving all reason and sense of self behind.

Purim is the ultimate joy, and the only way to experience that joy is to break out of yourself. Not by making yourself happy, not by doing those things you enjoy, not by sticking to your life, your friends, your family and remaining the person you are so comfortable being.

No. By playing the clown, by taking the risk of making yourself look like a total idiot, acting insane, or better put: allow -ing the insanity within you to burst out – in a way that brings smiles to strangers on the street, uplifting all around, even those who had lost all hope for joy.

The light of Purim knows no bounds.

What, Me Jewish? Why Purim? What happened in Shushan on this day that is cause for such madness?

What happened is that the Jewish people took ownership of their Jewishness. And they did that at a time when it was utter madness to do so.

That’s the subtext to the Megillah, often ignored. We’re told that Haman’s decree of total annihilation was upon the “Yehudim” – the Jews. The implication is that any Jew could easily slip out of this predicament.

Any Jew could just say, “What, me Jewish? I speak Farsi. I dress Farsi. I eat Farsi food. I celebrate Farsi celebrations. I’m just another Farsi like you.” – and be totally clear of danger.

And that would be the sensible thing to do. You’ve lost your land. Your temple lies in ruins. The prophet Jeremiah promised the exile would last seventy years. The elders have counted, and the seventy years, by their accounting, is up.

Work on a second Temple had begun, there had been a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel – and then, it was shut down, the light cruelly snuffed out.

So what gives you a right to exist? What sense does it make to have “laws that are different from all other people” while you are “scattered among the nations?” G-d has abandoned you, for heaven sakes. Why identify with your people, with your practices and beliefs, when that identity means only persecution and hatred?

If so, what the Jews did was absurd. They said, “We are Jews. We were born Jews. We will die Jews.” And they fasted and prayed, and then fought for their lives.

Purim as Marriage Purim is the day we became married to G-d, and to each other.

Until the days of King Achashverosh, the Talmud tells us, the Jewish people had never really accepted the Torah. They were coerced. “G-d held Mount Sinai over their heads,” the Talmud tells us. Rabbi Yehudah Loewe of Prague explains that as a figurative reference to the abundance of love He showed them, until they had no other choice.

The person of your dreams takes you out in a flashy Lamborghini, treats you to a lavish feast at the finest restaurant, showers you with jewelry and poetry of love, and then suggests marriage. Do you have a choice?

So too, G-d swept us out of slavery on eagle’s wings, drowned our oppressors in the sea, fed us manna from heaven, and then whispered in our ears sweet words, “I want you to be mine.”

We were coerced. A deal made under coercion is not a deal. At any point, the Talmud tells us, we had the right to step out of the whole thing.

Until the days of Achashverosh. Because then, there were no eagle’s wings, no bread from heaven, no signs or wonders – and nevertheless, we stood with our Beloved.

Why? There is no explanation. But we are still here. Absurdly.

Purim and Insanity Let me get this straight: If religion and G-d is an answer to all questions, and an answer to all questions is all that’s needed so I can have

by TZVI FREEMAN

...and neither are the people that celebrate it

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meaning in life – then I’m out. Then our entire history doesn’t work. Our attitude towards life, our arguments with G-d, with His Torah, with each other, the sanctity we attribute to tomes of holy disputes, most of them unresolved – these have no place. There can be no Jewish people.

Yes, we are an educated and intelligent people. But true intellect is that which is forever escaping its bounds, seeking something beyond, something entirely transcendent, and discovering that transcendence in every artifact of existence. True intellect knows that which it cannot know.

And true intellect is forced to admit that no being can ever discover its meaning on its own. It simply does not have the context to do so. And true intellect is forced to acknowledge that the true reality is not simply beyond the grasp of the three pounds of meat that constitute the human brain: True reality is beyond any grasp whatsoever.

If so, how have we held tight for almost four millennia to that which cannot be grasped? How have we found meaning in a marriage to a G-d we call the Unknowable, Infinite Light?

The same as any marriage is sustained.

Any proper marriage, after all, is a case of sus -tained insanity. No one walks under the chuppah and commits to a lifetime with another person with a cold, calculated deportment of mind.

We call it “falling in love,” but truly it is a form of temporary insanity. And then the entire labor of marriage is to sustain that madness, reinvigorating it whenever it loses steam, allowing two selves to lose their minds over one another again and again.

Purim and the Post-Holocaust Revival I identify with that. In a certain way, it happened again with my generation.

I am a child of the post-Holocaust. My generation are those who were bred on the image of the Jew as a skeleton behind the barbed wire of Auschwitz.

If there was a Holocaust documentary on TV, I had to watch it. When I went to the local JCC lounge

to hang out with friends, the entire back wall was a mural of those deathly figures. If I was schlepped to the synagogue for whatever occasions, I doubt the rabbi ever managed to give a sermon without mentioning the six million.

The message was drilled, pounded, hard-wired and welded relentlessly into our little minds, until it became an essential part of our neural circuits: We are the people they hate. We are the people that are persecuted. If someone is looking for a people to persecute, to blame, to despise, to obliterate from the face of the earth, here we are.

As for G-d and our religion, there was only one conclusion a sensible person could come to: G-d had abandoned us and the deal was off.

Why, please tell me why, would any kid, normal or otherwise, want to stay in this club?

And then something so crazy happened. Barely a quarter century had passed since the imple -mentation of the Final Solution, and a Jewish renewal began to flourish. We returned, perhaps not in droves, but with pride, with chutzpah, with love, madly embracing that which our parents and grandparents had quite reasonably dropped by the wayside.

Why? I don’t know. We are a crazy people. We can’t let go of our G-d.

The marriage ceremony never ends. I live now in Los Angeles. Fifty years ago, nobody would have believed that in Los Angeles, in 2018, a Jewish community would be flourishing as it is today. No one would have imagined what takes place on that mile-and-a-half strip of Pico Blvd. and its surrounds in Beverly Hills and Beverly Woods every Shabbat.

We are a miracle. An absurd miracle. A miracle of insane love.

We are drunk with wine, a deep, rich wine, aged over millennia. The wine of a love that can never be lost, a marriage that can never be broken.

PM40

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INGREDIENTS

4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted margarine, room temperature

½ cup sugar

1 cup non-dairy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 cups flour

Poppy seed filling, lekvar (apple or prune butter), strawberry or apricot preserves

Yields: 3-4 dozen hamantashen

DIRECTIONS

Beat together the margarine and sugar on medium speed until smooth and fluffy then turn the mixer to low, slowly add the un-whipped whipping cream and vanilla extract. Raise the mixer to medium speed and continue beating until smooth.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour until the mixture is completely combined. The dough should be very thick.

Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and refri gerate for 30 minutes. Dough can be refrigerated for 3-4 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

To Bake:

Preheat the oven to 375° F. and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes, just to warm it up a bit. Lightly flour the

counter and roll out the dough to around 1/4 inch thick. Don’t make the dough too thin or it won’t hold

together while it bakes. Cut out rounds of dough using a 3-4 inch cookie cutter.

Move the dough rounds to a parchment lined cookie sheet, brush the edges with water, then add a half

teaspoon of your favorite filling and pinch the edges together to create a triangle. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

BASIC HAMANTASHEN

MTC FAVORITE • TRIED AND TRUE RECIPE

Queen Esther's Hebrew name was Hadasaah. ("Esther" is Persian.)

Mordechai was the first person in history to be called a "Jew". (Before then, Jews were called "Hebrews" or "Israelites.")

Haman was the one who advised

Achashverosh to kill Vashti.

There is an opinion in

the Talmud that Esther was

not beautiful at all, and had a

greenish complexion.Haman

was once

Mordechai's slave.

G-d's name is not mentioned even once in the entire

Book of Esther.

PURIM TRIVIA

Did you Know...

Every

single Jew in the world lived

in Achashverosh's kingdom, so that

they were all included in

Haman's decree.